10 Minute Boardshop is  new service that we ( one of the authors of this site ) have developed for retailers to get their board shops online more quickly.  10 Minute Boardshop allows retailers to quickly create basic sites for their stores by collaborating with their manufacturers.

Using this service, retailers create microsites for each of their brands. The microsite shows the products that the retailer sells for that one brand, and the site is search-engine-optimized for local searches. For example, the Creatures at Mitch’s Surf Shop shows all of the Creatures of Leisure products that Mitch’s surf shop sells.  You can see an index of all of our websites at index.minuteboardshop.com.

Using a site like this, the  surf shop owner can get search traffic without a lot of work, because most of the  content from the site is provided by the manufacturers, so retailers don’t have to locate product photographs are type in product information. Because the site includes products, unlike like business directory listings, consumers who are doing local searches for brands will find the sites.

10 Minute Boardshop is currently in private beta, and will launch publicly later in 2010.

With a similar idea to  ecommr, which we profiled last month, the eCommerce Gallery presents well-design e-commerce websites. We haven’t  purchased  anything from the featured sites, but the site assures us that the criteria for inclusion involve   attractive design, search engine optimization and good consumer experience. If you are designing e-commerce websites, this is another place to turn for inspiration.

Swell.com is an online surf and skate retailer based in San Juan Capistrano. They primarily sell apparel but also have some hard goods. We’re interested in them because they have an excellent web presence.

Their home page is a familar surf website design, very similar to surf retailers like Ron Jon Surf Shop and other online retailers that cater to the same demographic. The design is comfortable, not challenging or edgy like skate shop Web design. The design doesn’t get in the way. 

What we really like is the content,  which not only has the traditional departments for “Guys,” “Girls,” and “Gear,” but also includes a Team section for their sponsored surfers, a blog, a side scrolling lookbook, and a digital catalog. 

The company also has a social media presence, including a Twitter account, @swelldotcom, and a Facebook page with nearly 1,500 fans. 

You can be certain that all of that content is not cheap, but would you expect a low-budget site to be able to buy the domain name “swell.com”? In March, the company, Swell Commerce, leased 34,000 square feet of office space for $1.6M over five years, so we can probably assume they aren’t a typical independent retailer.  Even so, Swell.com’s website is worth studying.

As a new designer launching a line or a retailer opening a store, you already know how important the Web is for the future of your business. But setting up an excellent website can require a lot of effort, and probably a lot more than you can spare in the early days of your venture. Fortunately, there is a simple way to get started online: start a blog.

A blog is probably the easiest way to get online. Create an account at Blogger, and you can be communicating with your customers in a few minutes. Some examples of businesses making good use of blogs are Drakub Apparel and an antiquarian book store. In about 10 minutes, you can have a site like the one I created as an example for this posting.

Step 1. Get an account. Visit Blogger to create a new account. You will be ready to write your first post in about 90 seconds. After creating your account, you will have a blank blog post screen, ready for you to write. But first click on the Settings tab to set up your profile.

Step 2. Configure your account. Explore the Settings and Layout tabs to alter the layout and design. Adding Gadgets through the Layout tab will let you add information about lines, store hours, and directions.

Step 3. Write content. Using your blog, you can announce new products, offer promotions, or let future customers share in the adventure of developing your business. Your customers are interested in what you have to say about your products and your business, so post frequently to maintain their interest.

Step 4. Promote your blog. Tell your friends about the blog. Collect the e-mail addresses of people who are interested in your business, and send them updates that include a link to your blog.

In about 10 minutes you can give your business a Web presence and begin communicating with your customers, giving your business additional exposure and credibility.

Eric Busboom is the founder and CEO of Clarinova, a Web technology company that improves the online visibility of apparel vendors. You can ask him for help with your Web problems by sending e-mail to eric@clarinova.com.

A Broken Spoke is a designer of men’s clothing. I like the look of their collections, and I love the name. When I first saw the name, I read “Bespoke,” instantly giving me the impression that the clothing is custom and high quality — brilliant.  However, I didn’t see anything that I wanted to buy, so I decided to book mark the site and visit later. That is when the web designer of A Broken Spoke positively prevented a future sale.

You can’t bookmark any of the pages on the A Broken Spoke website, because the website has only one page. All of the “pages” are implemented in Flash, and you can’t bookmark the inside of a Flash application. So, I will lose track of this site and probably never buy anything. Sorry John; I really like your stuff.

To understand the problem, you should know that a URL is an address on the Web, in the same way that a postal address works in the physical world. In the physical world, you want everywhere you would like to send mail to or visit to have an address, so you know where to go.

Imagine that you are invited to a party at an apartment, and the address you are given is the address of the apartment building, but the apartments are not numbered. People and mail can get to the building, but they can’t easily get to the apartments. You have to direct the party goers with extra directions like “Go up to the third floor, turn right and knock on the third door to the left.” That is much less efficient than “Go to apartment #307.”

A Flash application has an address for the main application, but it does not have an address for the “pages” inside the application. So, for the A Broken Spoke site, if  I wanted to tell you about a product I really love, I’d have to direct you to it by saying:

Visit http://www.abrokenspoke.com/. Click on “Collections” in the top menu bar, then hover your mouse over the third picture down in the right column.

Using Flash for you website means that your customers will not share links to your products with their friends. No “Tell A Friend” for you! Even worse, if a product does not have an address on the web Google can’t find it, and your customers can’t search for it.

For an example of a site that does it right, visit Charmoné Shoes. Here is a link to a specific product, something you can’t do at A Broken Spoke: Star Anise – Espresso.

Fortunately, A Broken Spoke does have an etsy store, which does not cripple consumers with Flash.

After you’ve designed and manufactured the product, be sure your customers can find the product on the web, and do understand how consumers use the web. Allowing your customers to find your products with search engines and allowing them to share links with each other are critical aspects of a successful web strategy.